cutnbulls2ox (imported) wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:52 pm It sounds like you have two very good reasons to get a medically necessary castration. But you d likely have to go without any testosterone after your gelding to get the cancer prevention you seek. Giving up everything that testosterone does for a man s body.

of course you hit it again cutnbukks2ox. I never really gave it any thought at the time but going without testosterone over a long period of time most definitely has an affect of softening all those things that makes a man's body masculine. Add to that in the case you're referring most standard treatment for PC also involves some intake of female hormones. Not exactly sure why all of this becomes so shunned by society if there was never any cancer involvement.

I think those of us men who want to be as masculine as possible fear losing those body features that we enjoy and are so proud of. I can remember before puberty and during puberty us boys wanting so much to grow all those masculine features on our bodies and hoping desperately that we would grow into extra manly men some day. I d watch the high school wrestlers weighing in naked for meets and wish so much that I d some day be able to grow the different body features I most admired and envied in each naked guy weighing in. One of my buddy s older brothers who was from a big family with lots of older boys, would strip down every night in front of his brothers and check his whole body for new body and pubic hair growing in. He always be saying, Come on boys where are you ? Grow in hairs ! Come on blackies, grow ! We all laughed at him but he knew we were all doing the same thing alone when we stripped down, hoping and searching for signs that our most desired masculine body features were growing in. We d proudly show off whatever we did have and congratulate any guys showing new beard, chest, pubic, and armpit hair. Of course penis and testicle growth were the most valued and desired features, along with muscles and wide shoulders and strong facial bone structures that took much longer to grow in than body hair.

Losing any of those scares the ....... out of us guys who watched our own manhoods develop so closely and eagerly years ago.

Even knowing we have really bad prostate cancer running in the men in our family, its so tough to give all that up and not know for sure how long we can wait to get castrated and have it still do the maximum good in preventing cancer. Once cancer shows up, its way less effective to give up your balls and manhood by then. It helps, but you still have active cancer by then.

I said in an earlier post that my late friend had, what was pretty much an elective prostatectomy, so he wouldnt end up like his father. Jack was castrated as treatment for metastatic prostrate cancer. This so horrified Gary that he convinced doctors to remove his prostate. His perfectly healthy prostate has removed and he ended up incontinent and impotent. The jury is out on prostatectomy vs orchidectomy? I would observe that most men will experience the 'softening effect' as they age and hormone levels drop. Being on TRT my PSA levels are closely monitored. I guess if my prostate does 'play up' the doctors could just reduce or stop the T replacement altogether? Cutnbulls observation on puberty reminded me at high school, my friend showing off his first and only chest hair, another guy just leans over and plucks it out!! There was quite a punch up! LOL

eunuch440 (imported) wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 6:51 pm I was just operated on for prostate cancer in April of 2018. Since I have been rendered pretty much impotent, should I consider castration? I got interested in castration originally due to bad testicular pain. Now, I would like to beat cancer and stay alive.

If the cancer was localized, the surgery is a cure and castration would offer no additional benefits. If it's spread or they missed something and it recurs, then castration is the best option.

cutnbulls2ox (imported) wrote: Fri Dec 14, 2018 8:39 pm Cseriess started a very interesting post on prostate cancer. His post is named Irritated by gender inequities. Its about preventive early castration to prevent prostate cancer.

It makes me wonder how many men have family histories of prostate cancer that cause them to think about castration as either a surgery they will likely have some day when they are older. Or wonder if early castration might help prevent prostate cancer for men with higher risk of getting it since they have many male relatives or family members who had prostate cancer ?

Lots of us likely will be chemically or surgically castrated for prostate cancer as we age.

Is that a big reason for men on here being interested in learning more about castration and how it changes and affects men ?

I have some concerns if not worries -- my PSA has been rising and according to my test results I have a 26% chance of having cancer. If I have it, it's probably curable but prostate removal is pretty horrible what with impotence and incontinence. The thing is, when I did a search to see if preventative castration could prevent prostate cancer and at what ages I couldn't find any information. If it could, I'd definitely have it, and then go on estrogen so my bones don't dissolve. But I'd be concerned about making things worse. Eventually, the testosterone sensitive cancer cells die and are replaced by hormone resistant ones, so the cancer comes back. And then it can't be stopped. So if you already have it, it may be a better idea to leave the castration until after surgery if the cancer returns, and get that extra seven years of life.

Yes, it seems really tough to find any data on preventative castrations and their affect on prostate cancers and survival rates. Jesus posted the only data I ve ever seen on this, on this site some time ago.

There should be enough transgender males getting voluntarily castrated and testosterone deprived at different ages to have a population large enough to study this concept of preventative castration and the ages most effective to be gelded at to achieve the best prostate cancer prevention rates.

Again, like circumcision, most men don t openly discuss prostate cancer castrations seriously, in public, and freely with each other, even one on one. Most prostate cancer geldings never talk about it with anyone except their wives. Secrecy just promotes ignorance and needless embarrassment and isolation in men.

Studying transgender males is an excellent idea.

I've read that while castration is the most effective treatment for disseminated prostate cancer, most men choose to take testosterone blockers for emotional reasons. This is true even though they need only remove the core of the testes, leaving their appearance intact. A bit off topic, transdermal estrogen is apparently a better treatment than hormone blockers since the estrogen prevents side effects like hot flashes, osteoporosis, and brain fog. While the risk of a cardiovascular incident increases during the first six months (IIRC) of estrogen therapy, after that the risk is lower than that of hormone blockers, and transdermal administration doesn't have the dangers of oral estradiol administration.

Transgender males still get prostate cancer after transition if they have a prostate. Castration as an adult does not prevent PC, however, once it's there, castration, chemical or surgical can stop its growth.

...castration...

Bentboi22 (imported) wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:01 am they need only remove the core of the testes, leaving their appearance intact...

This idea is very overrated. It's been a while, but I found a video or photos of that result, and it's quite disappointing. The "core" of the testes is most of what they are. All that was left were small mushy lumps, not proper testicles at all.

I think castration is a good method to achieve zero testosterone, far more cost effective than $3000 Lupron injections every 4 months, for example. If zero testosterone is the goal, go for it.

It's not the only reason, but I'm a prostate cancer survivor, a Very High Risk case. I chose castration, even though my primary therapy was relatively successful. The risk of recurrence for me is over 50%, and my numbers arguably could be interpreted as already trending that way. My only remaining option was immediate and permanent lifetime "hormone therapy", or testosterone elimination. So, if that's the eventual result, then I decided to get ahead of it and take charge, go ahead with castration now. So I did. And I'm on low-ish estrogen patches to prevent unpleasant side effects of having no testosterone.

As a result, I no longer worry about my prostate cancer. In some years, if it does recur I'll worry then. But I'm expecting a long respite due to my complete lack of testosterone!

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of size effects are you having on estrogen? Also a high risk here, my biopsy was clear after a 11 on my last PSA. I had 3 in a row that kept escalating from an 8. Could not convince my urologist that we should consider a prostatectomy now and not just wait for the cancer to arrive. Very frustrating.